MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. – Col. Alvin J. Bedgood of Tampa, Fla., has been appointed by Civil Air Patrol National Commander Maj. Gen. Amy S. Courter as commander of CAP’s Southeast Region. Bedgood assumed command on Monday from outgoing region commander, Col. James Rushing, who served in that capacity since 2007.

As commander of the region, Bedgood is the senior corporate officer within the region, which includes six wings – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Tennessee – and boasts a membership of more than 10,000 volunteers. He will also serve on CAP’s National Executive Committee.

Emergency services and disaster relief in the region has involved several high-profile missions in recent years, include Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as well as this year’s flooding and tornado relief efforts. The Gulf oil mission, CAP’s largest mission since World War II, involved nearly 300 volunteers, 1,011 air sorties and 267 ground sorties over 118 consecutive days.

Bedgood, who has been a CAP member for 26 years, most recently served as the Southeast Region vice commander. He has also served as region vice chief of staff and region chief of staff and as an instructor, curriculum coordinator and deputy director for the region staff college. On the national level, he has served on CAP’s National Professional Development and Information Technology committees and as a member of the Organizational Excellence program tiger team.

He is employed by L-3 STRATIS as director of training, unified command solutions. He is a retired U.S. Army officer, Persian Gulf War veteran and former E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (STARS) mission crew commander. He also is an Army ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate from Loyola University in New Orleans, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. He holds a master’s degree in international relations from Troy University in Troy, Ala., and a post-graduate Educational Specialist degree in leadership in curriculum and teaching from the National College of Education at National-Louis University in Chicago. His credentials further include graduation from Army Command and Staff College, CAP National Staff College and CAP’s Region/Wing Commanders Course.

His military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, three Meritorious Service Medals, five Army Commendation Medals, a Joint Service Achievement Medal, two Army Achievement Medals, an Army Good Conduct Medal, a Joint Meritorious Unit Citation, two Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Citations and an Army Superior Unit Award Citation, as well as numerous campaign medals and service ribbons.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force RescueCoordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 113 lives in fiscal year 2010. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 26,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 69 years. It is a major partner with Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. For more information on Civil Air Patrol, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.comor www.capvolunteernow.com.